Teachers Who Delight In Murder And Assassinations Are Unfit For The Job | Erika Sanzi

"Millions of kids in this country loved Charlie Kirk. They saw him executed on a livestream. And now they are expected to sit in classrooms with people who are celebrating their loss. This can't be allowed. This small percentage of educators must be fired if this nation is to heal." 

I wrote those words above on X two days after the assassination of Charlie Kirk, once I became aware of the alarming trend of teachers taking to social media to celebrate his murder. And based on what I’ve seen over the past week or so, millions of Americans—across the political spectrum—are aghast at these gleeful reactions to murder from teachers and others who work in America’s schools.

Conservative political activist Charlie Kirk, founder of Turning Point Action, speaks during a meeting on the campus of the University of Arizona in Tucson on October 17, 2024. (Photo by OLIVIER TOURON/AFP via Getty Images)

Important caveat here: As ubiquitous as it may seem online, the vast majority of educators have not taken to Tik Tok and Facebook to publicly cheer celebrations of Kirk’s death. But we also aren’t talking about a few fringe outliers in Seattle and Cambridge—it’s a trend that is far too prevalent to ignore. 

This is a question of fitness for the job. We are talking about adults who have custodial care of other people’s children during the school day. They aren’t bank tellers, mechanics or fast food cashiers—they are teachers. And if they make a vile comment in confidence to their spouse or friends, that’s one thing. But delighting in murder on a public platform under your actual name shows such a lack of judgment that it disqualifies someone from the role of educator. 

How bad were these posts? Here’s a small sampling. All of them were posted on social media by K-12 teachers in the US in the immediate aftermath of Charlie Kirk’s murder at Utah Valley University. 

"Another Nazi dead. Rest in piss Charlie Kirk."

"I have watched the video over and over like 50 times by now. And not the far away video, the close-up video. Love every fraction of a second of it and it gets better with every watch."

"Yes, I am celebrating. Yes, I hope he rots."

"Far right assholes have a target on their backs. One down. Millions to go."

"Rest in piss."

"I can’t believe people are actually mourning this douchebag."

"Hearing that Charlie Kirk got shot and died really brightened up my day." 

"I’m glad he’s dead."

"What a piece of garbage. This is what happens ....he met his maker but let's be very clear, that maker is not in heaven. Charlie Kirk is not in heaven right now."

"He was a monster, and his wife and kids are better off without him, as is the rest of the world."

"Good riddance to bad garbage."

"Good riddance. Who’s next?"

"Yes, I’m celebrating. Yes, I hope he rots. No, I won’t apologize."

"1 Nazi down."

"This isn’t a tragedy. It’s a victory."

"Violence is in fact ok AND necessary… to confront hateful violent fascists you sometimes have to do so with violence." 

"Please let’s stop with thoughts and prayers for the kids of a dead Nazi"

"Violence is in fact okay AND necessary especially against white supremacists." 

Getty Images

We have a compulsory education system in this country and public schools are assigned based on residential address. Parents whose kids are in classrooms and schools with these teachers are essentially trapped unless they have the means to move them to a private school or manage the logistics of homeschooling. I truly don’t know how we can ask any parent to accept such depravity from the people who care for their children during the school day. It is a betrayal of trust and decency that has left parents reeling. 

In response to this disturbing trend, Florida’s Commissioner of Education, Anastasios Kamoutsas, sent a letter to every superintendent in the state indicating that "although educators have First Amendment rights, these rights do not extend without limit into their professional duties." 

Most, if not all, of the educators in question have been suspended pending further investigation. If these suspensions turn into firings, teachers’ unions and the ACLU will undoubtedly fight them on First Amendment grounds. I welcome that fight. If people want to make the case that this abhorrent behavior is not disqualifying for a teacher, I look forward to hearing it. And if we lose that fight, school districts will likely be under pressure to strengthen their codes of conduct. Now is the time to draw a line in the sand because this can’t happen again. 

Parents should never be expected to send their children back into classrooms with teachers whose moral compass is so broken that they applaud murder on social media. Instead, every parent should feel secure in the knowledge that a teacher who celebrates a political assassination on a public platform will be fired. 

Erika Sanzi is the Director of Outreach for Parents Defending Education.